Game of Tails
by Brelic
Summary: Many rulers fighting for the right to be the one true king? Political intrigue accompanied by backstabbing and all out war? A would-be ruler whose claim is boosted by a creature of mythical proportions? No this is not game of thrones, This is game of tails. This is the second joint-story between me and gamerfreak102, It Will include most of the major DBZ characters.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Prologue**

As the Kanassan's fist connected with the back of Bardock's neck, anger filled him at the lowly sucker punch this coward used against him. He could feel that although the attack wasn't particularly powerful that something had gone seriously wrong, he was slowly losing his ability to balance and a strange feeling was spreading through his body; frustrated he blasted the cowardly creature hoping to pay it back for whatever it had just done to him, but surprisingly although the blast should have easily vaporized the creature, it stayed standing, not a single new scratch on it, though there seemed to be a blue flame covering the creature. The creature was saying something about transferring some power to him or something, Bardock was having trouble focusing on the specifics though; he could feel his body getting weaker by the second, like he was slowly being pulled into a dark oblivion.

The next thing the seasoned warrior knew he was watching himself stand over his dead teammates. "What the hell! Tora! Fasha! What happened? Who are you? Get away from them!" He shouted to the phantom that appeared to be himself as he rushed forward.

Before he could even cross half the distance to them though, everything jumped, he saw what appeared to be himself fighting a group of Planet Trade elites and winning. As confused as he was at the current scene, he couldn't get his mind off of the gruesome scene he had just seen. 'My squad where are they' his head frantically searching the ground below, he would deal with his doppelganger later right now his team needed him.

Suddenly he was pulled from his thoughts as he saw Dodoria nearly vaporize his copy. 'What the hell, I don't understand what's happening why do I see my squad dead and Dodoria attacking me.'

Bardock's head began to spin, instead of being in the ruined and battle scarred planet he had just been on. He saw himself stumbling into a bar, the very same one that he and his team would go to, to celebrate successful missions, and watched himself plead with his fellow soldiers to stand up to Frieza and save their lives. They only offered their ridicule in return, Bardock felt a wave of bitter resentment towards those Saiyans overtake him.

Within seconds the room had shifted again, King Vegeta and a group of some of the most highly regarded of the Saiyan elite stared down Frieza, the King launched into his attack, before his skull being shattered with a single blow. It was a telling, and in many ways disappointing, sight to see just how pitifully even the King was compared to Frieza.

Before he had a chance to watch more, or even come to grips with how disadvantaged his race actually was, everything jumped again. The visions were moving at too great a pace, he couldn't wrap his mind around the sights he was seeing. This time his doppelganger was standing in front of Frieza charging a massive energy attack, true fear was filling up his very essence after watching how easily Frieza killed the King and his men, and now he saw himself staring down that very same monster. 'No, I wouldn't be that stupid, would I?' The possibility that this was real started to seem more and more likely, he really was that foolish.

He saw his other self's attack merely be absorbed by the massive planet buster that was thrown his way, he could almost feel the heat from the blast, as it disintegrated his body and tore through the planet.

He watched as his home planet erupted in a brilliant light before his very eye's, so many emotions were filling up, anger at the other Saiyan's for not heeding his apparent warnings, regret of not holding his son in his arms, sadness thinking of his squad dead on planet Meat, and his wife dead in the blast. Above all of these emotions, rage. Pure unyielding rage at Frieza for destroying everyone and everything he had ever known. Sound couldn't reach his ears in the void of space, yet Bardock swore he could hear the Tyrant's maniac laughter at the destruction of an entire species.

Finally the rage had built to the point where he couldn't hold it in any longer "Frieza!" Bardock screamed at the top of his lungs, every fiber of his being yearning for him to tear the Frost Demon's body limb from limb, he charged up his Ki and launched forward, hoping to take the beast by surprise.

But as suddenly as his outburst began, he stopped, confused by his new surroundings, the world he was now on was lush, more lush than most of the worlds he had ever been sent to exterminate. 'Where the hell am I now?' curiosity tried to inch its way into Bardock's mind but his rage still burned white hot, 'I don't understand why does this keep happening, one minute I'm killing the fish head, the next my crew is dead, then my home is destroyed and now I'm in the middle of some freaking jungle' he felt the need to obliterate something or someone to let some of his frustration out, but as he began looking to satisfy that desire a bright light suddenly filled the sky.

It only took Bardock a second to recognize the fireball as a Planet Trade attack pod, used to deploy soldiers on missions. "Well maybe whoever that is will have some idea what's happening." The irritated Saiyan thought to himself as he began to make his way towards the impending crash site.

He started to run towards where he believed it would crash, when the flash from the pods collision with the ground filled the sky, before he had time to change directions, he was suddenly standing on a cliff facing the crater. "I'm getting tired of all this teleporting shit." he mumbled to himself as he jumped off the mountain ledge intending to lazily float to the bottom. Something though kept him from accessing his Ki, leaving him with a means to slow his descent. He felt a pang of panic as he fell, and mentally prepared his legs to try and absorb most of the force of his impact.

When he reached the bottom, he simply stopped; he didn't even feel the impact. 'Great, another mystery I need to solve...' he grumbled to himself as he began to approach the still smoking crater.

Not waiting for the occupant to exit the pod, he simply marched straight to the bottom, intending to beat the answers to whatever questions he may out of the unfortunate soldier in the pod, whether they had any answers for him or not.

As he reached the pod though his hopes of getting answers were dashed, 'A Saiyan baby, there's another survivor? He...he kind of looks like...me? he couldn't be...my son?' Disbelief at the strange circumstances he suddenly found himself in sent a wave of shock through his system.

After a moment, the shock wore off enough that Bardock could function again, "Here let's get you out I guess." Bardock said even though his son was too young to understand him, even if he could hear him though the soundproof walls of the pod. As his hand reached the open button though, he was met with another surprise as his hand phased right through the pod as if he was some sort of ghost. "Wait… no I can be already dead can I?" Dread began to fill Bardock as things began to appear more and more as if he was in fact nothing more than a ghost.

'This means… no, I couldn't have possibly watched my own death could I? No that's too weird that cou-' Bardock's train of thought was interrupted by a loud, but vaguely familiar voice. "I have already told you, I have granted you the power to see the future, as a present, so you to could see your death and the deaths of all those you care about just as we were forced to!" The deranged, disembodied voice yelled, before laughing maniacally.

Bardock's head swung side to side as he tried to locate the fish-head, hoping to finally shut him up once and for all, "Come out you coward, I killed you once, I can do it again!" he shouted back, his frustration on the verge of boiling over.

The disembodied voice simply ignored the Saiyan's challenge, and continued its monologue when it was done laughing, "But my punishment isn't going to end there, no you have killed far too many billions throughout your lifetime to get off so easily. So I'm going to give you a little extra punishment, for them" it began to snicker "Not only have you been forced to see your own inevitable death and the death of your entire world. But now you will be forced see the life of your son" he began cracking up again as if he had told the punchline of a joke that only he understood perfectly, Bardock was about ready to try and blow up the planet himself just to get the Kanassan to shut up.

Finally after several more extremely long minutes Bardock decided he would bite if it made it shut up. "And how is watching my son's life going to be such a just punishment exactly?"

There was a slight delay as the creature's laughter slowly came to a stop, but finally after it calmed down it responded "Because you'll see how much your son despises beings like you. He'll be the greatest fighter to have ever lived, his strength unrivaled in the entire universe, hero to the downtrodden and opposed everywhere, his name praised throughout the centuries by the Kais themselves. While you will not even make it onto the footnotes of history. You will see how truly meaningless your life was. Enjoy the solitude, you might just learn something." the laughter restarted before slowly disappearing into the background.

"Where the hell do you think you're going? Get back here! Fight me you coward!" Bardock shouted at the heavens, but he received no response.

"Greatest hero my ass, you don't seem that great to me, you're probably just another disappointment like your brother." Bardock muttered at his sleeping, infant son, who did not even know he was there.

He sat there for nearly an hour waiting for another jump, nothing happened though, as he was forced to watch his son simply lay asleep.

Finally boredom and frustration overtook Bardock and he began his pointless attempts to wake his son up. "BRAT! DO SOMETHING! If you are some great warrior show me something impressive already!" The baby didn't even roll over.

"That's it I'm out of here." Bardock mumbled to himself as he started walking away from the ship, no matter which direction he ran, he almost immediately ended up back at his son's ship. The Kanassan's games had pushed him too far as he attempted desperately to destroy something, anything, to make relieve his frustration at the situation, but no matter what he tried to hit, his body would simply phase through it.

20 minutes later he slumped to the ground, feeling the rare pain of defeat, and decided to try and get some shut-eye, cursing the Kanassan that had done this to him, until he couldn't keep his eyelids open any longer.

The night past peacefully enough and the sun had risen high in the sky before Bardock had finally awaken, the pod to his son's attack pod had opened at some point during the night, and he now sat seemingly impaling the door. "Damn it, so it wasn't a nightmare. There's got to be a way to escape." the season warrior said to himself as he rose to try his luck again.

No sooner had he stood though that he son had finally awaken, his cries began to echo through the forest, much to Bardock's dismay. The obnoxious noise assaulted the veteran warriors ears like few things he had ever heard.

He momentarily forgot he was trapped in his mind and wasted several minutes screaming at the child for silence, as he had done the few days he had been forced to be around Raditz when he was a child, before finally trying to pick the child up. His hands phasing through him reminded him of his current predicament though.

"Damn it…." Bardock began to growl to himself, as he tried to fire a Ki blast at something to rid himself of his frustration, nothing, his ability to use his Ki was still completely gone. "You damn Fish-head when I get out of here I will make you pay, I don't know how, but I swear I will make you pay!" He shouted at the heavens before beginning to recite every curse he had ever heard during his many years of combat. No matter how loud he shouted he couldn't drown out his son's racket.

Near noon, he finally got some relief from both the crying and his boredom as an old native walked through the clearing, "My, what do we have here, who put you in this thing little fella?" While Bardock was still pondering the fact the old man looked remarkably similar to a Saiyan, he suddenly noticed his son had stopped crying as soon as the old man had picked him up.

"Finally, I don't know how much longer I could have taken that." He mumbled to himself as the old man lifted his son higher into the air to get a better look at him.

"Oh my, a tail, hmm, I haven't seen that before." Gohan said with surprise as Bardock's son's tail twitched back and forth. "Well what should I call you little fella?" he asked as he began to lift the Saiyan baby up into the air and back down, causing the child to giggle in amusement.

"Damn it brat, at least act like a Saiyan, your mission is to kill the natives not make friends." Bardock mumbled as he watched the exchange leaning against a nearby tree. As if on cue his child socked the old man in the face, Bardock chuckled for a moment, "That's more like it."

But the old man was laughing too, "Boy you're a strong little guy aren't you? You're going to be a fighter when you grow up I bet. Hey I know what to call you till I find out where you belong, I'll call you Goku." he said as he lifted him back into the air, causing the child to giggle again, "You like that don't you."

Bardock was on the verge of being sick, "What the fuck is going on, this has to just be some sort of hallucination, some dark twisted dream, this can't actually be the future, I'll wake up eventually, I have to."

Unfortunately for Bardock hours turned to days and days turned to weeks, and although his son attempted several times to kill his caretaker, he could never even faze the old man. He even transformed several times, but the old man was seemingly strong enough that his son couldn't beat him at his full power. With how slow the native was he could only assume it was due to his son's own weakness as opposed to the human's great strength. With each failed scheme, Bardock disappointment in his son only grew. "The damn kid can't even take on old man." he shouted at his son, as bored and frustrated as he had been during his entire stay in the future. 'I don't even know how this could get worse…" he mumbled to himself before restarting his shadow boxing he had taken up to pass his seemingly endless amount of free time.

He soon found out how things could've been worse, not even a full day after his son's latest failed plot to defeat the old man, he was at it again. The old man was on his way down the mountainside to the river he would fish at to satisfy Kakarot's endless appetite, it was a daily trip for the duo, and an opportunity his son couldn't pass up.

Bardock begrudgingly was following behind them, sparring as he went, not bothering to pay them any attention; at least he didn't till he heard the sound of a stick snapping. His eye's slid over to the duo, still sparring, and noticed his son had snapped a branch from a tree they were passing, and was in the process of chewing the end. 'What's the brat up to now...' he thought to himself his interest slightly piqued.

His son's strategy came clear a moment later as his son attempted to stab his caretaker with the sharpened stick, unfortunately the tip could only get so sharp from his teeth alone, and failed to even break the skin. It did manage to startle the old man who jumped slightly, causing Kakarot to fall out of his back-pack crib, down a ravine.

Bardock just watched dumbfounded as his son hit the bottom, he didn't know whether to be furious at the old man for his carelessness, or laugh at the irony of the situation, he was told his son would be the ultimate warrior and now he was dead.

He watched for a while expecting to be released at any second, but as time passed, he began to get more and more nervous, 'What if I'm trapped here forever?' a small amount of fear began to build up in his gut at the prospect of being trapped there for all of eternity.

He soon realized he had pronounced his son's untimely demise too soon, as his son had suffered a grave head injury, but had somehow survived.

The next few weeks Bardock was forced to sit and watch as the old man doted over his comatose son, all day every day, forced feeding his son water and the juices of fruit to make sure he stayed nourished.

Just as Bardock was beginning to reach the end of his patience, the endless hours of shadow boxing beginning to cease to satisfy the Saiyan warrior's boredom, his son miraculous pulled out of his coma.

The joy on the old man's face seeing his son awaken was a strange concept for Bardock to stomach, 'The earthling is happier my son survived than I am… I wonder if the rest of this planet is so soft. Not even Gine would care about some alien child like this man is fawning over my son, it's almost absurd." Bardock complained to no one in particular, he couldn't help but feel a small tinge of envy as his son began to happily giggled at his wizened caretaker that feeling didn't last long though as his disgust at the situation came roaring back to life.

'Damn weakling planet, making my son into a weakling too." He continued to mumble attempting to block out his sons cooing, "That fish-head will pay for forcing me to watch this I swear he will!" Bardock shouted the latest of a long series of curses at his Kanassan's capture.

Things never improved for Bardock though as his son's new extremely un-Saiyan behavior became permanent, all of his previous attempts to kill his caretaker and finish his mission were halted, instead the boy just played, and when he got older begged his 'grandpa' to teach him 'martial arts'.

Learning to fight was something Bardock approved of, but the lessons his son was learning were not. "Damn it Old man! Don't you know anything about fighting? Kakarot wouldn't survive 5 seconds in a real fight with that." Bardock critiqued the fighting style his son was being indoctrinated into. "He wouldn't survive a single purge like this; you have to be more aggressive! Come on!" Bardock continued to growl, like they had for the previous 10 years though, his pleas continued to fall on deaf ears, the mighty Saiyan warrior was forced to watch his second son grow up as quite possibly the weakest Saiyan to have ever lived.

Finally something changed his son made the mistake of looking at the moon for the first time since he was a toddler, and actually succeeded in killing his adoptive Grandfather. It was still a close fight, but because Gohan was fighting a purely defensive battle, eventually he let a hit through, Goku's foot immediately crushed down on him. 'Finally the old man was getting on my nerves." Bardock said a slightly sadistic smirk on his face as the life was being crushed from the man who had cared for his son the last decade. His enjoyment of the situation ended at the old man's dying words though, "Don't worry Goku, its ok my son, when you wake up you will miss me but it will be ok, you are a good boy, and I have loved you since the day I found you, please… make… me … proud." with that Gohan took his final breath, and Goku went on to destroying the surrounding mountain side as his father had tried to do countless times over the last ten years.

Instead of being able to enjoy the sight of his son actually beginning to purge the world, Bardock though stood there in a shocked silence, not at the gruesome scene he had just witness, he had seen countless deaths more brutal than the old man had suffered. No the shock he felt was the fact he didn't get any enjoyment at the old man's demise, Gohan's last words had robbed him of that. 'What the hell is happening to me? Am I going soft or something, he was raising him to be a weakling; he got what he deserved, didn't he? damn it I am going soft.' Bardock hated to admit it, but something about being around him for so long was stealing his killer's edge, his ruthlessness was one of the things that kept him alive on the countless missions through his career, he hated the fact it was being taken from him, but there was seemingly nothing he could do to stop it.

Bardock soon learned another reason to miss the old man, although he was a weakling he was at least keeping his son progressing some, after his death Bardock was forced to watch his brain damaged son run around the forest like an actual monkey. It was a truly depressing sight for Bardock, who seemed destined to watch his son achieve levels of ineptitude that Raditz, his first born son and resident disappointment, could only dream of.

Finally the monotony of watching his son play around ended when, another human arrived, a girl with an odd color of hair named Bulma, Bardock had gotten so bored with his repetitive life that it was almost a breath of fresh air when she arrived. At least until the overwhelming disappointment overtook him again, the girl was selling some story about magic balls that would grant wishes. His brain damaged son bought her story hook line and sinker, not only that but he agreed to accompany her on her 'quest'.

The 'adventure' lasted a while but Bardock was still pretty bored through most of it, he found amusement at how weak most of the beings his son came across were. But his amusement was always destroyed by disgusted when time and time again his son spared them. 'My son isn't just failing his mission; he's doing the damn opposite of it.'

When his son was captured by the annoying Blue imp, Bardock began to give up hope of his son ever doing anything right. his opinion about his son began to change some though as he was awestruck when he saw the eternal dragon rise from the stack of orange balls 'maybe the kids not as dumb as I thought he was' this thought was followed up by Kakarot transforming into his Oozaru form and all of his friends escaping. "The kids lucky I'll give him that, his friends might not be though" Bardock growled as his son began his rampage which ended in his tail being cut off. This act caused Bardock to be enraged as he screamed every profanity he could think of at the blue cat for shaming his son.

When his tirade was done, he came to a startling conclusion; he was starting to care about his son. This revelation lead to many others as time began to speed by, with little else to do besides watch his son and meditate on his years of atrocities, his walls began to be completely broken down, as the righteousness his son seemed to constantly emanate began to infect him, like it had the likes of Krillin, Yamcha, the assassins in training Tien, Chiaotzu, and even to a small degree the child of his son's greatest nemesis the Demon King Piccolo.

He was just another one of his sons victims, and strangely he was ok with it, he slowly began to enjoy some aspects of the peaceful life his son lived most of the time, even though he longed for the excitement true combat brought him, and spent most of his time shadow sparring to try to partially satisfy his constant this constant urge.

The part that caused him the most agitation about this particular time in his son's life was the fact he had brought a half breed into the world, one of the few steps down a Saiyan could take from being a shamed, tailless, low class.

The child's disdain for combat only fueled his disgust at the thought of his grandchild, at least Goku had the love of combat that all Saiyan's shared.

Just when he began to think he would spend the rest of his life doing nothing more than watch this new peaceful period in his son's life, far short of the prediction of his son being the universe's ultimate warrior like the mad fish-head had predicted over two decades ago.

It all began to change when his other son arrived; Bardock hadn't even thought of the possibility of other Saiyans surviving, let alone his other son. Part of him expected Goku to convert Raditz like so many others, but his unique ability took time to take effect, and when you're fighting against a being three times your strength, time isn't something you had a surplus of.

Though he was furious that his Kakarot wasn't strong enough to give his own older brother the chance he had been able to give so many others of his enemies, over the years. He felt shame burning in the pit of his stomach as both of his son's died. he knew Goku would be back, his friends would make sure of it but he felt that he had failed Raditz by not being there and not teaching him right from wrong, because he himself had failed to ever make the distinction.

Time continued to streak by and Bardock couldn't help but be amazed by the crazy course his son's life took, in a years' time he went from barely drawing against his weakling brother, to defeating the most powerful member of their race in recent memory. His exploits were just beginning though, and Bardock was beginning to believe the Kanassan's words when he was first trapped in this endless state of limbo.

But defeating the Saiyan prince was not the end of his son's exploits, after traveling to the planet Namek, a world Bardock had only ever heard of in ancient legends and defeating the strongest soldiers in Frieza's portion of the planet trade empire, his son became legendary in his own right, he had gotten to the point where he was somewhat upset at seeing his son's best friend die at the time, but after he saw his son's hair start to flicker between black and gold as a massive power began to erupt out of him, Bardock's sense of sadness at his son's loss became pride at his son's accomplishment.

The Super Saiyan transformation was everything he could have ever dreamed of a more.

His pride kept shining brighter and brighter as his son not only took on a more Saiyan disposition, but also began to make headway in avenging their people, and when he did finally finish the monster off Bardock could feel something forming at the corners of his eye's that he hadn't felt since he was a child, tears only instead of tears of pain or sadness, these were more shameful in his mind though he currently didn't mind, tears of joy at his son's accomplishments. He quickly scolded himself for his weakness, but even then his heart wasn't in it, he was too proud of his son.

He expected his son's story to end there, what else in the universe could hope to challenge the strength of a Super Saiyan? Again his expectations proved wrong, he was still being propelled down the stream of his son's life as he watched him learn the technique of the Yardrats, meet a time travelling Super Saiyan prince, and finish the last of Cold bloodline.

The last of his doubts that his son was the greatest warrior in the history of the universe vanished when his son eliminated the only being to have ever cast a bigger shadow on the Saiyan race than Frieza himself, The fight against the legendary Super Saiyan had been fierce and although his son couldn't do it alone, he still got the finishing blow in, and that counted for a lot to Bardock.

He then saw his half-breed grandson, still a boy by human standards and someone Bardock had originally deemed a disgrace, defeated a monster every bit as powerful as the legendary Super Saiyan himself, in addition to regenerative abilities that made killing him nearly impossible. While the cowardly creature would've destroyed the world if not for his son's sacrifice, the final battle was the most amazing thing he had seen yet on his seemingly endless journey through his son's life. He had lately begun to really enjoy the ride, his only regret being he wasn't there to join in the battles himself.

He had figured his ride would be coming to an end soon seeing how his son had chosen to stay dead over his friend's objections, and he was beginning to fear that maybe he would be forced to watch his son fight his way through the afterlife for all of eternity, which although it wasn't the worse way Bardock could think of spending eternity, he had imagined he would have a far worse time when he finally met his own end, it was still painful to him that he couldn't join in the action.

The years continued to speed by, as he watched Goku achieve even higher planes of strength than his grandson had even achieved, the third form of Super Saiyan was unlike anything he had ever seen.

Eventually after 7 years of waiting, he saw the reason he was being force to stay, or at least he hoped so, as his son went back to Earth to take part in the insanity that seemed to constantly bubbling up on the small, strange, planet once more. though just when he thought things on the blue green mud-ball couldn't get stranger, old grudges flared back to life with the help of a strange wizard and, to top it all off an ancient pink blob with powers seemingly from a child's nightmare and whose strength seemed truly limitless arrived seemingly to be the harbinger of death for the entire universe.

The blob seemed to take everything the last of his race could throw its way, and every time he thought they would win the vile being would be so low to use his cowardly powers to absorb whoever stood in his way. It just made Bardock want to be the one to finally finish the creature all the more, but he would not get that honor, because finally his son, with the help of the Prince Vegeta of all people, was able to defeat the monster once and for all.

Bardock resumed his life of watching his son topple limits he couldn't have even imagined in his wildest dreams. Until the day his son finally had to duel the dragon that had helped make it all the madness possible. In the end his son ended up abandoning his family forever to go off and train with the mystic dragon, for an untold eternity.

it was as Goku, unknowingly with his tag-along father, were traveling through a wormhole towards a strange dimension, that Bardock suddenly heard a voice, it sounded familiar, like he had heard it before in a long ago dream, but he could quite place where he had. He began to worry that his decades of being trapped all by himself had finally destroyed what little sanity he had left, but he soon placed where he had heard the voice before. 'Tora' he thought to himself, 'but how he's been dead for decades, hasn't he? How long have I really been trapped here?'

His old friend was saying something about being personally assigned to a mission on a planet called Meat. 'Why does that name sound familiar?' Bardock racked his brain, he knew it from somewhere, it had to be important. Finally it registered with him Meat was the planet his crew was going to be slaughtered at. 'Noooo!' he screamed in his head not realizing that the fear he felt for his friends, began to overwhelm the trap his mind had been in the last few weeks.

Tora stopped in his tracks as his scouter began to beep, a second later he heard the glass of the healing tank began to crack and the healing juices begin to bubble out.

"Bardock stop!" Malarka yelled terrified at the damage Bardock could do to the hospital.

Bardock couldn't stop there, he was on the verge of breaking out of his mental prison, and he was going to take full advantage of it.

"Couldn't miss a chance like this could ya' Bardock' Tora goaded his now seemingly wide awake and very agitated leader. But when he turned around he noticed Bardock's eyes were still closed though the monitor measuring his brain waves was going crazy.

"Malarka, what the hell is going on?" Tora yelled, obviously worried about his friend.

The doctor was just as confused as the Tora was. "I'm not sure, his brain waves have been weird the whole time, it was as if he was in a very vivid dream, but now there appearing to be that of a man in a life or death battle."

Tora eyes finally began to focus on the number the scouter was reading. '7000! why the hell is he powering up so high? but the reading didn't stop there it continued to climb, after peaking 8,500, a level which would have firmly put Bardock as the second strongest Saiyan alive, the glass of the pod finally shattered and with it the power that the Kanissian had been using to keep Bardock trapped in his own mind, finally evaporated and his eyes shot open, as he shot out of the tank.

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**Thank you for reading the first chapter of Game of Tails, the second joint-story between me and gamerfreak102. The prologue is complete and the action can really get started in chapter 2! ****The coming chapters will be filled with as much political intrigue, and classic dragon ball z combat that you could ever hope for. **

**Please review, We love to know what our readers think of the story.**


	2. Chapter 2: Ghosts from the Past

**Chapter 2: Ghosts from the Past**

Guards rushed into the hospital room their scouter going wild, the only logical conclusion they could come to for a power level as high as the one they were detecting was that the King was without his royal guard and in some sort of distress.

Each soldier that entered the room's face twisted in shock when they realized who was emitting the extreme power.

Bardock was completely lost in his thoughts and failed to notice his audience, or the fact he was completely naked. 'Am I really out? Was I ever really gone? Or did I imagine it all? No, it was too real to be a dream wasn't it? Is this real, is the damn fish head messing with me again?'

That was when Tora finally broke the silence that had befallen the room since Bardock had stopped yelling, "Bardock, here you might want to put these on" he said trying to defuse the visible tension in the room as all the guards were warily eyeing known low-class who was emitting more power than any Saiyan besides the King himself could manage.

Tora's voice again pulled Bardock out of his own head, only this time he had been willingly there looking for answers to the endless questions bouncing around his skull. He had finally come to the conclusion that he was a man of action, and he would act on his visions as if they were to come true.

He had come to this decision right as Tora spoke up and was in the process of planning how to take on this particular challenge when he was again pulled from his head. Confusion was evident on his face, "Huh?" at least it was until he looked down; he immediately grabbed his armour and covered himself, realizing just how crowded the room was.

Hurriedly he slipped on the undergarment, Before turning back to his longtime friend, who to Bardock had died nearly 60 years ago he couldn't entirely hide the emotions he was feeling, an actual smile crossing his face, 'damn the kid really did soften me up' the seasoned warrior thought to himself before addressing Tora.

"I can't thank you enough for breaking me out of the Kanasian's trap a few minutes ago." he face suddenly turning serious "Unfortunately I have some bad news" he turned slightly making it clear he wasn't just addressing Tora but all of the others in the room as well. 'I'll have to be careful about how much I reveal, otherwise they might really think I'm crazy' he nervously chuckled at himself in his own head "I know this will sound crazy, but after the damn fish head's surprise attack he used some sort of psychic power to trap me in my own mind." Bardock paused a half second to see how people were taking what he had said so far. Mostly they were looking confused, or disinterested.

"The Kanasian said he transferred the power to me. The entire time I was out I kept seeing these visions of Frieza turning on us; first my entire team was slaughtered like animals by Dodoria. Then Frieza came for the rest of us, he didn't even bother to fight us when he got here he simply attacked the planet itself, wiping us all out in one go. As much as I hate to admit it we're not strong enough to face Frieza. That doesn't mean we can't be strong enough we're Saiyan's nothing is beyond our reach. Now though we have to tactically retreat, go underground, and continue to get stronger, one day we will become super Saiyans and kill the entire cold family once and for all!" He finished, hoping not for cheers but at least for them to not stare at him like he was insane.

The Saiyan's around him just stared at him for a minute before someone in the back yelled "Looks like Bardock finally got his bell rung too hard on a mission!" most of them burst into laughter at the insult hurled at the obviously crazy low-class in front of them, second strongest to the King or not.

Bardock growled quietly in his throat resisting the urge to blast them, 'damn it Goku you did make me soft.' He mentally cursed his son's future self's effect on him.

Tora stared at his friend and commander and wondered if maybe the Kanassan did hit him too hard. "Hey Malarka, I think we-" he started to whisper to the doctor standing next to him, one look from the avian doctor shut him up though.

Malaka was the one person in the room that didn't think Bardock was as crazy as he seemed. The avian doctor stood there thinking over all of the evidence 'Bardock goes to a world rumored to have the most powerful psychics in the galaxy, is rendered into a comatose state from a single blow from a being seemingly several times weaker than him, while in a comatose state had brain activity of someone who was completely awake over an extended period of time, and now claims to have seen visions of the future. It just might be possible psychics can do some strange things, plus I have heard of similar cases before...'

Bardock was getting very frustrated with the attitudes of the people he was trying to save, "Don't you understand we have to do something, if we don't we're destined to follow the same path I saw in my vision, we will all be wiped out!"

Instead of heeding his warning though, his fellow Saiyan's just laughed that much harder, that is until someone else spoke up the one being who the other Saiyan's might listen to, since he was the medical expert in the room, "I wouldn't completely rule out what Bardock is saying, at least not yet." the avian doctor said speaking just loud enough for the Saiyan's nearby to hear him over their own laughter. The one's that heard his first declaration stopped laughing, and like a wave effect slowly the whole room became quiet. Malaka was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable as a room full of hardened killers turned towards him their eyes burning through them.

Bardock was surprised, he respected Malaka but he didn't think he'd have the backbone to openly support him even if he did believe him.

He took a second to compose himself before he gave his reasoning, "Everything I've seen and heard so far seems to be consistent with what Bardock has told us. I mean think about it, I'm sure you've heard the legends about how powerful the psychic powers were of the beings that live there. I'm sure the act of trapping a single person inside their own mind would be child's play to creature that can hide their own planet using just their own minds, now why they would do it I'm not sure about." He said turning to Bardock hoping the Saiyan would give an explanation on that part, and that he wasn't making a deadly mistake by supporting him.

Bardock then retold what the Kanasian said to him when he was first trapped, "The fish head who trapped me and gave me his psychic abilities, said it was so I could be forced to see our people inevitable end just like he and his people were forced to see their own ends." his voice more solemn than anyone in the room had ever heard it.

Tora was the most shocked his friend sounded this defeated, Bardock usually was either bored, in bloodlust, or planning out his next fight, never scared, and never so resigned as he seemed now.

"So that was his game, one final act of revenge, on you for being the messenger of his people's death." Malaka said before A royal guard interrupted the conversation. "You don't honestly believe the crap this low level is spewing do you?"

Malaka turned his attention to the guard, he was large, even by Saiyan standards, easily seven feet tall with hair that spiked straight up, a thick beard on his face, and a large scar running from the bridge of his nose to his right ear, Malaka remembered personally treating him after he accidentally insulted the king, luckily the king had been in a good mood that day or there would've been nothing left of the man's head for Malaka to save.

"Telekinetic abnormalities in sentient beings is not unheard of in medical science; it is however, incredibly rare. It doesn't matter if I believe him or not, or if you do for that matter Gulrot, because ultimately it is the king who will decide what if anything there is to be done about the possibility of Bardock actually having prophetic visions." Malaka finished his well worded explanation to Gulrot, although he had the creeping feeling that he couldn't fathom a good amount of what he said.

Gulrot thought over the words of the doctor for a moment before making his decision, "You're right Malaka, I guess we better take him to the king and let him decide how to execute the low class" the large man said with a smirk before shouting to the other guards in the room "Alright men that's an order let's bring the low class before the king so he can get on with his execution already." The Sergeant of the guards was hoping to get a reaction out of Bardock; he was itching for an excuse to prove himself by defeating a warrior with a reading near that of the King himself.

The guards started to move in around Bardock, all eyes on him to see how he would react, but to the surprise of everyone in the room he just stood still and waited for them to finish surrounding him his face lightening to a smirk.

Gulrot suddenly rushed forward attempting to startle Bardock into initiating a struggle, just as the hulking giant reached him though Bardock seemingly vanished. Gulrot's eyes bulged as his head whipped side to side, searching for the mad low class.

Out of everyone in the room, Tora was the most shocked; as Bardock appeared right in front of him at the same instant he disappeared from view. Bardock's quiet voice drew him from his shock though, "Tora, I know what I'm saying might sound crazy, but you know me, I'm always up for a fight, I would never run unless there was no possible way to win. Even then I would usually try because I always know there is a way to win. This time the way to win requires us running for now though." he finished, hoping his best friend would believe him.

Tora was still trying to wrap his mind around all that had happened the last few minutes, his comatose commander had woken up, displaying power he was sure rivaled that of King Vegeta himself, before prophesying that Frieza was on his way to kill them all. The strangest part was Bardock actually believed what he was saying, he could see it plainly on his face, Bardock truly, with every fiber of his being, believed they were all going to die at Frieza's hands if they didn't leave their home.

He decided his commander deserved his trust, if not for being his commander, than for being his friend. "I believe you Bardock, what do you want me to do." he responded his voice barely above that of a whisper

Bardock's worried expression turned into a full-fledged smile, which was about as rare an occurrence as a full moon was on planet Vegeta. "Good I knew I could count on you, now listen closely I need you to gather up the crew and tell them everything I've said today, and everything that has happened, also find Gine and let her know too. Then just wait for orders from me, do not go to planet Meat under any circumstances, Dodoria is waiting to ambush us there as we speak. Keep a low profile, since those were orders from Frieza himself and all." Bardock hurriedly finished

Bardock's face suddenly turned very serious again as he continued "If you haven't heard from me in six days, just get off the planet no questions asked, that's a direct order."

Tora was about to respond but the lumbering Sargent had finally located Bardock and he and his men were coming after him full force.

Bardock turned towards his attackers completely relaxed, he wasn't going to fight them, they were doing exactly what he wanted them to do, they were going to take him to the king, and one way or another a king of the Saiyans was going to give the order to evacuate the planet.

Two of the royal guards latched onto each of Bardock's arms attempting to immobilize him, it took everything in him to suppress his battle hardened reflexes and not throw them off. That was when a large fist collided with his gut; the Sergeant was strong enough that the punch actually caused Bardock to gasp for air, his body unable to properly brace itself for the blow.

As Bardock slumped forward, the fight momentarily taken out of him, he was promptly shackled and dragged from the room.

Tora watched on, barely able to resist the urge to kill the guards and free his friend, he knew he was as strong or stronger than all of them, but doing so meant disobeying his commander's direct orders, the same commander being dragged from the room. 'Damn it… I have to trust him.' he finally conceded as Bardock finally disappeared from view. 'I better find the others, the last thing we need right now is for them charging the King's damn dungeon trying to set him free.' he sighed inwardly to himself knowing that's exactly what he would have done if Bardock hadn't ordered him not to.

Tora immediately began to move down the halls until he could get someplace he could take flight without drawing too much attention to himself. He didn't think there'd be any trouble, but when you're planning on defying an order from Frieza himself you never knew what could happen.

Finally he was outside, and immediately took to the air, flying at a brisk pace, his mind already going through the different ways he could break the news to his comrades when he arrived at their usual pre-mission meeting place.

Before he knew it he was nearly there, and no closer to coming up with a strategy that didn't result in the lot of them rushing the palace. 'Which now that I think about it it's is a distinct possibility no matter how I presented it' Tora again sighed inwardly 'This is why Bardock's in charge he knows what buttons to push to actually get us to stop just working as individuals and actually work as a group. Without him I don't think we'd even be alive after all the suicide runs we've made over the years.'

Just as Tora reached the front door, a large Saiyan came crashing into him, knocking them both back onto the sidewalk. Tora immediately recognized the warrior now laying on top of him "Borgos? What's the big idea" he growled out as he pushed his large comrade off of him.

Borgos though was wasted, he didn't even notice there was something underneath him, all he knew was that someone had thrown him, and someone would be losing an arm because of it. The giant of Bardock's elite nearly crushed Tora in his rush to get back in, leaving a stunned and very angry Tora lying on the sidewalk trying to resist the urge to go in and beat the living daylight out of his usually silent friend, he was failing.

Finally after just a dozen or so seconds he could resist his Saiyan blood no more and rushed in after him. As soon as he entered the building he saw the perfect example of what happened when Saiyans met alcohol, an all-out war.

'I should be able to complete the mission if I knock all these hotheads out' Tora reasoned with himself before rushing into the fray, Bardock's crew were much stronger than the average Saiyan, although all of them were considered low-levels because they were weak at the time of their births, every single one of them could go toe to toe with any elite, which was bad news for the other inhabitants of the bar, since this was a bar for low-class only.

The first drunken Saiyan to pass too close to him was immediate sent flying into the wall with a quick punch to the gut. Next he dodged an attempted kick, before throwing another drunken Saiyan in a heap on top of the first, within the next few seconds he had taken out three more equally intoxicated low class Saiyans.

As he scanned the bar he couldn't help but laugh at how sloppy the other members of the team were now, compared to their usual form, Borgos was fighting 2 other Saiyans each about his size and taking a beating because he was too drunk to actually block any of the attacks they were throwing, the alcohol was also hampering his aim so he kept missing both his less intoxicated targets.

Fasha seemed like she was having trouble deciding if she were to kill the man she was fighting or have her way with him. Shugesh was passed out drunk on the bar snoring loudly.

'Well today is definitely not the day to tell them about Bardock, maybe after they all pass out I can bring them to Bardock's place and at least tell Gine what's happened.'

Finally Borgos took enough hits to the head, and dropped to his knees before collapsing to the ground, unconscious. Tora chose that moment act; he gave Fasha a quick powerful chop at the base of her head quickly knocking her unconscious before she could deliver the deathblow to her victim. Tora sighed to himself before mumbling to himself "Why is it Saiyan women can't handle their liquor, they either go nuts and try to kill you or." he just smiled at his next thought looking down at Fasha, before snapping himself back to attention. 'Damn it I don't have time for that, I've got a mission to accomplish first.'

'Well Bardock always says we do like to overdo it.' he chuckled to himself before thinking back at the numerous times his friends 'overdid it' from nights similar to this one and like this one it ended with him or Bardock carrying at least one of them away from the bar. Grabbing, both Borgos, and Shugush into each of his hands, and wrapping his tail around Fasha, Tora dragged his comrades out of the ruined bar, and into the air, heading for the low-level slums at the outskirts of the city.

When he arrived, he took a moment to stretch his tired limbs from carrying his squad mates, before turning to face Bardock's dwelling. The building that stood before him was not impressive by any standards; it was made from what remained of an old truffle house, as had all the buildings in the low class slum. It was very non-descript, originally it was a two story building but because of the height differences between Saiyans and Truffles, the second floor of most of the buildings were knocked out, making it a one story house. In addition to the combined floors, the parts of the house that had been damaged when the Saiyans rose and wiped the truffles out, once and for all, could be easily seen, as the holes were only filled with simple mud-bricks, just sturdy enough to keep the water from planet Vegeta's rare rain-storms out, it also gave each building its own unique patchwork pattern.

Satisfied that the blood was flowing in his tired extremities, Tora confidently strolled up to the front door to inform Gine of all that had transpired that day. Pushing through the doors he mentally braced himself, a Saiyan who had just given birth was a dangerous Saiyan, seeking out one, even one as weak as Gine, was risky business.

No sooner had he entered the main hallway of the house, did his scouter alert him of potential danger. The seasoned warrior dove to his left just as an energy wave tore through the wall and vaporized the stone chair he was just passed by.

Tora rolled and came up in a defensive stance prepared to take Gine's next enraged blast, he was surprised when he noticed her standing in the hole she had just formed in the wall, growling quietly, as opposed to when Raditz was first born and she spent nearly an hour trying to kill Fasha, much to the stronger female Saiyan's amusement.

"Women" he quietly mumbled under his breath before slowly walking towards Gine, hands up in a sign of peace. "Hey Gine, long time no see." he said trying to be friendly least she fire another blast at him on his way over.

"What the hell are you doing here Tora, I should blast your vacuum filled head right off your shoulders." she growled at him eye's narrowing.

Tora raised an eyebrow, 'Definitely not her usual passive personality.' Tora thought to himself before beginning her explanation. "Bardock sent me to deliver an important message to you." he started hoping that would be enough for her to start to calm down; he didn't need to deal with a hormonal Gine in addition the rest of the hot-headed team. Unfortunately for him it had the opposite effect.

Gine let out an animalistic growl before beginning to advance on him "Don't mention that bum in this house, that bastard didn't even bother to show up when I had his second son."

'Wow she is really not herself today, I better just give her the whole message and let her cool off for a few days.' He finally decided, "I'm sorry Gine, but this is important, Bardock thinks Frieza is coming to destroy the planet in a week, he gave me the job of rounding the crew up and if all else fails getting the hell out of here."

Gine just stared at her longtime friend, her gaze that of a hungry predator eyeing a young calf, inwardly trying to decide not whether or not what he had said was true or not, but what the best way to kill him would be.

Before he had a chance to continue, she suddenly lunged at him; Tora barely had time to raise his forearm to block her first blow. It had more force behind it than he ever remembered her using during the squad's training sessions. It wasn't enough to hurt, or even move his arm, but it was a surprisingly decent punch.

While he was still pondering her surprisingly powerful punch, Gine had taken the opportunity to drop, her leg lashing out and sweeping him from his feet, as soon as he realized he was falling, his body reacted using his years of training. He immediately turned his fall into a backwards flip, barely avoiding Gine's follow up blast.

'Damn, if she had this kind of fire in her all the time she'd still be part of the team instead of a damn meat processor.' Tora lashed out with his leg, catching him just under the arm, forcing all of the breath from her lungs, and sending her flying through the wall, landing in a heap near the rest of the squad.

Although the kick was hard, she refused to stay down long, her rage and lust for battle burning hotter than it had ever had before, she forced herself up and immediately let loose a volley of small blasts, at a surprised Tora who was still in the process of exiting her and Bardock's house.

Tora noticed the blasts at the very last second and dodged to the left, the blasts flying through the hole in the wall Gine's body had formed a moment ago before detonating in the house.

"Damn it Gine, what the hell did you do that for!" he shouted irritated at her irrational behavior.

Gine was shaking with rage as she stared at her damaged house, before she could continue the fight anymore Tora phased in front of her, with a restrained punch to the gut he dropped her gasping to the ground, he followed his attack up by grasping her tail firmly rendering her at his mercy.

"If you had this kind of fire normally, you'd still be out on missions with us." He growled at his longtime ally, hoping to try and get through to her.

She simply glared up at him, anger at her weak spot boiling over. Finally after trying to struggle a moment more, the pain from her tail overwhelmed her and she slumped completely limp on the ground.

"Now like I was trying to tell you before, I need you to be calm, if you were this fired up, what do you think the others are going to do when they wake up, Bardock has a plan and he doesn't need us messing it up! Got it?" Tora scolded Gine.

The senseless Saiyan woman started to struggle again at the mention of her husband trying to damage whatever part of Tora she could reach, much to the man's increasing annoyance. The Saiyan quickly thought of a way to subdue his enraged friend. "Look Gine… If you don't do as I say, your sons will probably be killed."

The angry grunts and small strikes against his legs ceased instantly, and the female Saiyan was briefly paralyzed with fear for her children. "Can I let go of your tail now?" Tora asked cautiously, his grip loosening slightly. She just weakly nodded in response.

"Like I said before, I don't think you were listening though, Bardock thinks Frieza might be coming to kill us all, he wants you and your sons ready to get off the planet at a moment's notice." he paused for a minute making sure she was still listening, but so far she seemed to be, "Got it? I need you to get the boys and be ready to leave ok?"

Just as he opened his mouth to ask one last time if she understood before he could Gine cut him off, "Tora I am going to dismember you very slowly if you ask me one more time if I understand… understand?" Her tone much more like her usual self, sanity appearing to have returned to the weakest member of Bardock's team.

"Ok that's the spirit, one thing though I need your help keeping the others calm when they wake up, if they interfere with Bardock's plan it could put us all at risk." Tora immediately regretted his last sentence, as Gine let loose a volley of blasts intending to kill her unconscious friends and eliminate a potential threat to her children. Tora was barely able to deflect the deadly beams from their path, before delivering a knockout blow to the base of Gine's head, rendering her into a dreamless slumber.

"Damn women…" he mumbled to himself, before sitting down and beginning to think how best to break the news to the others again since Gine was no help. "Damn it Bardock you better get done fast or this could be our first botched mission since that shit storm on Tysis." he shuddered involuntarily at the memory, more determined than ever to keep the mission from failing.

* * *

(3 days later)

Bardock had been sitting cross legged in his cell for several days now, patiently meditating over the vision he had lived out for so long. Every moment of it felt so real to him even though he couldn't interact with everyone, the things he saw, the battles his son and grandsons fought amazed him, and here he was with a power level under 10,000.

'The first thing I'm doing when I get to Earth is getting Dr. Briefs to build me a gravity chamber, I feel absolutely worthless right now.' he thought as he finally broke his calm state of relaxation, in his gut he knew it was time, 'Probably part of the physic abilities the fish-head gave me, let's see if I can put them to better use than they ever did.'

Within a minute his gut feeling proved right, as he sensed a whole squadron of guards enter his cell block, he rose to his feet, the shackles they had put on him when he had first entered his temporary home clattered noisily to the ground, he had broken them off as soon as he was alone.

"Get ready for your execution low-class, the King is ready to see you." a familiar voice echoed from outside his cell as Gulrot's smirking face peaked through the viewport.

Bardock just stood silently though, he didn't have time to play his games, Frieza would get there within a few days, he needed to get things going on the evacuation now.

"Don't have any last words, that's fine with Me." the giant grumbled disappointed that he couldn't rile the captive up any before his death.

A few minutes later they were striding out of the dungeons and into the heart of the royal palace. Though it was grand by Saiyan standards, compared to the comforts on Earth it was downright Spartan, which suited the Royal family just fine.

Finally after a few more minutes of walking they arrived at the King's throne room, inside he could hear the desperate pleadings of a strangely familiar voice, it only took him a minute to recognize it, 'Paragus!' his mind began to race, he had completely forgotten about Broly and his mad controlling father.

Part of him wanted to burst in there and make sure the King finished the monster's keeper off before the damage could be done, but another part of him, a part that did not exist before his 60 year journey through his son's life, wanted to give both Broly and Paragus a chance for redemption, he almost gagged at the thought. 'Damn it, they did soften me up."

But as the seconds slipped by Bardock couldn't help but think, 'If I do have to fight the King, it wouldn't hurt to have some help, he would be taking a risk, but the more he thought about it, the more the risk seemed like one he should take.

"Silence!" he heard the King's voice shout, he instantly knew what was coming next, he flared his aura and burst into the room, much to the surprise of his supposed escort, and the entire royal counsel, "Wait!"

* * *

**Things are about to get interesting real fast. How will King Vegeta take a low-class Saiyan bursting into his throne room? Will Bardock survive the encounter? What will happen to Paragus, Broly, Tora and the rest of the Saiyan race? Find out next time on Game of Tails!**

**I enjoy responding to the reviews for the previous chapters at the bottom of the latest chapter, so the review section is going to be a regular thing.**

**Reviews:**

**SSJ2Ivan- We think so too, hope you enjoyed the second chapter!**


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